6’11” pro basketball star AJ Ogilvy talks coming out, slam dunks & playing around the world
AJ Ogilvy was a basketball star with a big secret.
Mark
AJ Ogilvy was a basketball star with a big secret.
For nearly a decade, the imposing big man dominated Australia’s top pro league and was one of the NBL’s most recognizable faces. But off the court, Ogilvy hid a massive part of his life from public view.
The 6’11” center had a semi-secret boyfriend.
Early this year, Ogilvy finally shared his true story to the world. The former Vanderbilt standout sat down with Isaac Humphries, the NBL’s only out active player and one of the few out male pro basketball players ever.
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In an interview timed to coincide with the NBL’s annual Pride Round, Ogilvy publicly came out as a gay man. He says his only regret is he wishes he did it earlier.
“If one person or kid watches the game and sees that basketball is for them, that’s the most important thing,” he tells Queerty. “That’s what I would’ve wanted as a kid. It would’ve made a big difference to me.”
When Ogilvy retired in 2022, he took a job in recruiting and stopped posting on social media. After playing pro basketball for 12 years in four different countries, the three-time All-NBL First Team selection was ready to step back. Married and content, he didn’t see a need to broadcast his day-to-day.
As he puts it, he wasn’t “especially secretive,” anyway.
But when the NBL reached out through a friend, he saw value in coming forward. Now, he’s totally open with the world.
Perhaps not coincidently, he’s back to posting on Instagram, too.
Queerty recently sat down with Ogilvy to chat about the support he’s received, playing around the world and how it feels to lay down a slam dunk. Here’s what he had to say…
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QUEERTY: What’s the reaction been since your video with Isaac?
AJ OGILVY: There are a few people, especially in the hockey space, who have reached out. My thing was in the works, so watching Heated Rivalry I was like, “This is awesome, this is great.” But I was biting my time knowing that I was going to film this thing with Isaac in the near future. There have been a lot of people who have reached out and said how much it means to them. For me, that was the reason for doing it. If one person or kid watches the game and sees that basketball is for them, that’s the most important thing. That’s what I would’ve wanted as a kid. It would’ve made a big difference to me if I was sitting home and watching basketball… at a young age, you know you’re different. It would’ve meant to something to sit back and watch someone and know there’s a way forward. It would’ve impacted me.
Did the craze around Heated Rivalry heighten or lessen your anxiety?
I’ve been trying to stay out of the comments on things. I’m not good at that. I tend to argue with people! People are like, “Is this the Heated Rivalry effect?” The timing did work like that, but I’ve been having these conversations with the NBL since the start of November. Pride Round lined up with Heated Rivalry.
What’s one thing about being a pro basketball player that people don’t know about?
The work that goes into it. Sport as a whole—the games, the lights go on, kick off in football—people see the start of the game and think you work 90 minutes or until whenever the clock runs out on a Saturday night and that’s it. They don’t see that you’re getting up early to work out six months before the season starts, and all the extra trainings and conditioning and all the stuff that makes sure you’re in shape enough to perform every night. Even conversations I’ve had with my friends, they’re like, “You’ve got an easy job.” I’m like, “I work out five hours per day. It’s not particularly easy!” It also a great lifestyle. You get paid to stay in shape and travel the world and play sports. There are a lot of positive things. But there are parts about it that are less glamorous.
You mentioned you’ve traveled the world. What’s one thing you’ve learned from playing basketball in so many different places?
Just being able to adjust to different cultures is exciting. When I was younger, I had friends who moved overseas and didn’t have a car or a job or a house. When I moved to Germany or Spain or other places, I did have my car, my job and my house. So fortunately, I was able to just learn. Valencia, Spain, or when I was in Bavaria, Germany and figuring out what their local culture is about, or what’s their delicacy. I could really immerse myself. The basketball is different, too. So just adjusting your game to what will help you be successful in each league.
Speaking of which, you enjoyed a long and successful career! Are there any highlights that stick out?
A couple of big ones. In Germany, we won the league championship. That’s a pretty big one! I had never won a championship as a pro, so that’s a powerful memory. A few big games from college at Vanderbilt, especially a rivalry game against [University of Tennessee]. We beat them and they were No. 1 in the country. That was my freshman year, so thought was a big time memory. Then in Australia, to help build a foundation club in our league back up was really impactful. I didn’t win a championship there, but we did make a few Finals runs. To turn that around was also profoundly important to me.
Which is a better feeling: rejecting someone in the paint or slamming the ball down their throat?
Dunking on someone is more powerful. I didn’t get a lot of those during the back end of my career. But at the front end, I got quite a few year!
You and your husband have been together for a while! How did you meet?
We met at a bar in Sydney. It was before the age of online dating. We’ve been married now for 18 months almost!
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